One night last weekend I was at Blockbuster, the Greenville/Lovers location, with one of my kids. As we exited, two men were standing outside their car that was parked right next to mine. They yelled over to us, “Hey, I think I might have hit your car.” It seemed odd because I wasn’t sure how they knew which car was mine. It was dark and I felt uncomfortable but my car was parked pretty close to the door and these two guys were hunched over inspecting like there was a dent or something. I walked closer and saw nothing. One of the guys said, “I’m pretty sure it’s scratched. If you’ll drive it to the light maybe we can tell.” I got in and backed up to the light from the store’s front door instead of the parking lot light they motioned towards. There was NOTHING wrong with the car. I left.
Though it felt strange, they could have been legite. But something tells me they were sketchy characters.
Then yesterday a reader sent me a note about another unrelated but shady scene:
About 2 months ago my neighbor and I were talking in her front yard. A woman in an older model blue SUV stopped short in front of us. She was in tears and had a young boy, maybe 3-4 years old, in the back seat. She told us her boyfriend was abusive and she was leaving him and returning to her family in Iowa. Her gas tank was on empty and she needed about $20 in gas money to get her started on her trip. My BS meter was in the red zone and I shot my neighbor a “this is fishy” look. We then started listing off all the places she should go for help–one of the churches in the neighborhood, the Y, the cops. She said she had been to several churches and they couldn’t do anything for her; she had been to the Y and they couldn’t offer her any assistance; she had been to rthe police and they couldn’t do anything. I pulled out my phone and offered to call the cops for her, telling her they were really good and would be there within about 90 seconds. She went on her way.
This afternoon she returned! Same car, same tears, same boy in the back seat. This time she drove up to a different neighbor with the same story. My neighbor suggested the police, churches, Genesis, etc. but she had already checked with all of them and none could help. She ended up driving off again.
Wondering if anyone else has been approached by this woman? She has brown wavy hair, is in her late 20s/early 30s and my biggest concern is the little boy–he always seems out of it while the tear-filled scene is going on.
Run into these or similar sketchy peeps?
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